Friday, March 07, 2008

Obviously it would be against NCAA regs to contact a recruit through a social networking tool like Facebook. Well that's not stopping one College Coach from adding his name to the millions of students who use the website. I'll give you three guesses (even though you probably won't need them). Via SI...

That little nugget popped up on my computer screen late last week. See, Carroll is my friend. Or at least he is in the wonderful, slightly terrifying world of Facebook, where you can poke a perfect stranger with absolutely zero legal consequences. So when Carroll blasts Dire Straits in his office, me and his other 1,025 friends (as of Thursday morning) know about it. I also know his favorite book is The Inner Game of Tennis, his favorite television show is 24 and his musical favorites include James Brown, The Fray, The Beach Boys and The Rolling Stones.

Carroll's coaching colleagues can't say the same. A Facebook search for the names of the other 64 BCS-league coaches returned no legitimate matches. Alabama's Nick Saban has five profiles, but the geniuses who created them all thought he lived in Birmingham instead of Tuscaloosa. Arkansas coach Bobby Petrino's son has a page, but the Head Hog himself does not. Pitt's Dave Wannstedt doesn't have a page, but his mustache has its own fan club.

So Pete Carroll is taking it to the next level isn't he? The page says he can't respond to many of the comments (because of the NCAA Regulations mentioned above), but being the only real Coach in the network is definitely a great move. Free advertising never hurt anyone.